Here’s some examples that I have collected over the years.
Homographs
Lead paint. Lead the people.
Wind up. The wind is blowing.
The piano string is wound up.
I cut myself and now I have a wound.
Bass fish. Treble and Bass.
Record a song. Listen to a song on the record.
Minute time. Minute = Small
Cut…and an E the U changes Cute.
Caught / Bought – Same sound different spellings.
Cut / Cute
Should / Shoulder
Hear / Heard
Wet / Sweat / Eat
Know / Now
Tomb / Bomb / Boom
Perfect / Pursue
Than / Thank
Read / Bread
Both / Bother
Doug / Dough
Cough / Caught
Common mispronounced Japanese words
Karaoke
[Kah-rah-oh-kay] no [Care-ee-oh-key]
Sake
[Sah-kay] not [Sah-key]
Karate
[Kah-rah-tay] not [Kah-rah-tee]
Honda
[Hon-dah] not [Han-da]
*Note* Really don’t know where or how Americans got the “ha” sound from.
Tokyo
[To-kyo] not [To-kee-yo]
Nikon
[Nee-kon] not [Nai-kon]
Kyoto
[Kyo-to] not [Kee-yo-to]
English is Hard, But Can Be Understood Through Tough Thorough Thought Though
7 comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfRSvTSY0d4
通って vs 通って
行って vs 行って
感想、乾燥、換装、間奏、完走 are all spelled differently but pronounced the same
日 is pronounced differently in 日の出、一日、二日、土日、月日、誕生日、日向、今日、明日、明日、明後日、昨日、一昨日、同日、日本、and 日系
A very large portion of Japanese is mispronounced English loanwords, so it seems weird to complain about the few mispronounced Japanese loanwords in English.
Every language has some dumb, confusing features, and for English pronunciation/spelling is definitely one of them. And learning a second language definitely makes you learn more about your own language, including the less useful bits. But I think it’s important not to fall into the trap of “English is a stupid language.” All languages have been changing and growing for a long time, and they all pick up weird quirks along the way.
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
“Bison from Buffalo, New York, who are intimidated by other bison in their community, intimidate in turn other bison in their community.”
歯 葉 刃 派 覇 ？？？？
A great one is reading and Reading (pronounced Reding), read, red, read
> Honda [Hon-dah] not [Han-da] Note Really don’t know where or how Americans got the “ha” sound from.
Don’t Americans tend to either pronounce vowels weirdly or over-enunciate them? I can think of many examples that aren’t just Honda.